The Last Mughal is an engrossing history of the events that occurred in Deli, India in 1857, which centers about the Emperor the Last Great Mughal caught in the middle between his Islamic and Hindu subjects who formed a rebel army, and the Colonial British army of the East India Company. The trouble started when the British army replaced the rifle issued to the sepoys the Hindu and Islamic Indian privates who joined the British army. The rifle replaced was a smooth bore; the new rifle, the Enfield was manufactured with a rifled bore. Rifling cased the bullet to spin in the bore which resulted in increased range and accuracy compared to the smooth bore. However, to overcome the added friction, the ball ammunition needed to be greased. The shooter had to bite off the top of the cartridge and pour the powder down the barrel.

The author describes how the insensitivity of the British to Indian culture allowed the cartridges to be coated with cow fat, which was anathema to the majority of sepoys. This affront was interpreted as an attack by British Christians against Hindu fundamental religious customs. Thus began the conflict that killed thousands and destroyed the last great Mughal.

The author did a fabulous job of retrieving, reading and patching together thousands of documents and correspondence to form a detailed history of the events that lead to the destruction of Delhi and the dethroning of the Emperor.

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